


Little Moonchild

by littlehero



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Author Is Sleep Deprived, BAMF Hyuuga Hinata, Dai-hachi-han | Team 8 (Naruto)-centric, F/M, Founders Era (Naruto), Gen, Hamura Ootsutsuki is laughing, Hinata Hyuuga time travels, Hinata Time Travel, Hinata kind of copied Kiba's mannerisms, Hinata's a Time Traveller, Hyuuga Hinata is a Time Traveller, Kurenai taught Team 8 how to kill, M/M, Multi, Out of Character, Team 8- Freeform, The Author Regrets Everything, The Last: Naruto the Movie, The Sage of SIx Paths didn't expect Hinata's potty mouth, Time Travel, Time Travel AU, Time Travel Fix-It, Uchiha Madara is confused, Warring States Period (Naruto), Worldbuilding, a moon mom?, hinata gets catapulted back in time, hinata is literally a moonchild, how do i tag stuff thats impotant, i mean the everything little, i'll put other tags when i get to it, she's about to change everything, the tenseigan and mangekyo don't mix well, woop woop, y'all Hnata is hella pissed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17402906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlehero/pseuds/littlehero
Summary: She won't change the past.  It'll kill her if Konoha doesn't happen. Her friends, her team, her sister. All of them were to be born into this world, for she wouldn't want it any other way.Hinata Hyuuga has made up her mind, but is it so bad to stop that one baby Uchiha from being killed so early in life? Is it so bad that she takes pity on this little, frail boy from Taki? Maybe changing the past is not such a bad idea. Yeah, it's not that bad.[Time Travel AU] [Hinata x Founders]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING!!!  
> THIS IS A TIME TRAVEL AU WITH WORLD AND CHARACTER BUILDING ELEMENTS. If you see stuff that aren't canon, then you know why now. Also, don't expect everything to be completely normal, or similar to the original Naruto timeline. You can't expect a character to travel back in time and not cause a ripple or even just a slight change.
> 
> (Also, please don't expect a schedule for the updates.)

She had moved on from Naruto when she saw how happy he was that Sasuke was back to being a Konoha nin. She accepted the fact that they were literally soulmates, and that she couldn't make him even half as happy as Sasuke could. Hinata changed for the better, and became more outgoing, more confident, and stopped being the proper lady the Clan made her. She followed Hanabi's footsteps (now wasn't that weird? The older sibling following their siblings footsteps?) and came out of her shell. Even Shino was excited for her. So when Toneri appeared and kidnapped her sister, she accepted her fate and agreed to be wedded to him. She had no one to judge her in the Moon, and she saves Hanabi at the same time. What she didn't expect was for Naruto and Sasuke, along with Sakura, Shikamaru and Sai to appear in the moon and interrupt her wedding. They fought, fought Toneri for Hinata's freedom. But it all went downhill when Sasuke activated his Mangekyo and Toneri activated his Tenseigan. Naruto was much too close to the men with dojutsu and Sasuke couldn't keep his attention off of his opponent, leaving only Hinata to feel the sudden shift in the air. She could only run to Naruto, who was the closest to her at the time, and push him away from the impending doom that was two blood line limits reacting to close proximity badly. 

And now she was sent back to the past, like what the old theories of the Elders stated. An Uchiha and a Hyuuga in close proximity was dangerous, not because they hated each other or because of the competition between limits, but because of their eyes. She was now 'stuck in deep shit'. 

 She won't change the past. It'll kill her if Konoha doesn't come to life. Her friends, her team, her sister. All of them were to be born into this world, for she wouldn't want it any other way. The moment she opened her eyes to a full moon, she knew she was back in the past. The black dress she was wearing was, thankfully, without any rips, and she felt clean, if not a bit dusty from staying on the ground. She pulled the black cloth that was wrapped around her hair and ripped it into half, thanking the gods for making it somewhat see through for her to see the outline on things but not enough for others to see her eyes, using one half to cover her eyes and one half to tie on her waist. She might look unusual but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious and protect her stomach. She pulled the veil that fell off of her head to wrap around her body to at least keep off the mosquitoes. She had scanned the surroundings earlier, and knew immediately that she was at least thirty kilometers away from soon-to-be-Konoha. She weighed her options carefully, cracking her knuckles like how Kiba did when he was thinking.

Her first choice would be to set her base in a place she knows best, and protect her 'territory'. Second would be to immediately find another place to stay in, just so she could shake off any traces of her being from the future. It wouldn't do for her to linger in a place where someone could have seen her fall from the sky or something. She sighed, deciding that staying put would be dangerous, and set out to hunt for food. She didn't have any weapons on her person to use to gut her meal, but she saw Kiba rip organs out of rabbits enough times to know just how to clean a rabbit without anything except her hands. She thanked whoever was up there for her black dress, and resolved to find a place to stay in the next few days. With a clean twist, a small pop came from the rabbit's neck and she set it down on the ground. She was near a body of water (she could hear muted buzzing somewhere, which means a bug is either on water or drowning. Shino taught her that.) and she could make camp near it. She ran over the muted buzzing and surprise, surprise, there was thin strip of water running through the forest.

She washed the rabbit and pulled out it's innards after she dug a hole and started a small fire. It was small enough to not attract people but big enough to keep her warm. She set the other half of the wrap around her eyes on the ground as a makeshift bedding (She might be wearing black clothes but she didn't have to smell like she came from the depths of the earth) and sat on it, watching the rabbit slowly roast. She activated her byakugan to look through the ripped cloth she used to hide her eyes, and seeing no one within 10 kilometers, she deactivated it and made herself comfortable. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to change the future and if it's too late to change everything since she doesn't exactly know what Era she had been sent to, but one thing was for sure. Konoha will come to life. She quickly ate the roast rabbit, cringing as she realized she didn't have anything to brush her teeth with, and leaned over the water to gurgle the blood off. She washed her hands and flicked the water off, settling down on her back against a tree, facing the heat of small fire. She fell into a half-conscious state and her body relaxed enough for her to rest but tense enough to snap into stance in a second. Not one soul disturbed her rest.

She woke the next day to the rustling of leaves and she activated her byakugan, not moving an inch. Out came a battered teenager, a lot younger than her, form bloodied and slightly limping. He had bruises everywhere, and she almost cringed when he looked like he zeroed in on her, blurry green eyes boring into her unmoving figure. 'That kid is Kakuzu.' Her mind supplied after recognizing the exact shade of green his eyes were, recognized the face shape hair and skin type under his mask when he was older, lower back tensing a little when he stumbled and ended up falling face first on the ground near her. She snapped to attention when shouts rang out the forest before she panicked when she realized they were after him. Rushing to get away, she stopped a few meters away, before damning herself. She couldn't just leave him! She slipped her hands under his armpits (he was so, so thin, her heart broke) and carried him the way one would carry a toddler, running away from the men who didn't even know she was there. She let him down gently on the ground and wrapped her veil around him, in a futile attempt on covering his bruises, before checking the area to see if the men went to pursue them. She grit her teeth when her mind began screaming 'Leave him! He'll get you killed!' before tensing once again when he stirred. He stared at her with something akin to fear after he noticed what she was wearing.

"I was hungry." He said, wrapping one of his thin arms around his knees as he pulled them up to his chest, while the other went up to shield his nape, elbow resting on his head. The action made his meager shorts ride up his thighs and she winced as she saw black and blue patches of bruises. Then came the protective rage that came with every other older sibling. She pulled his arms up a bit too harshly, and pulled his torn up top. "I-I said I was hungry!" He whimpered defensively, thrashing against Hinata's hold, feet going up to kick her off of him. She let go immediately, pulling the cloth that hid her eyes and activating her byakugan, before glaring at him the best she could. "Stay put." She then went to track the men after the poor kid, and doing her level best to just knock them out to get their belongings and a few weapons (She can't cover her eyes and then use Jyuuken, right?) She dashed back to where she left Kakuzu, dumping the clothes in front of him and set out to find food for the boy. She caught a small boar drinking where she had set camp, and set out to feed the kid until he couldn't anymore. She carried the dead boar back to the boy, and saw him still unchanged. "What are you doing? Change." He scrambled to take off his clothes, face bright red.

”What? Haven’t heard of privacy before, lady?” He harrumphed as Hinata snickered, doing her level best to agitate little Kakuzu no more. She busied herself by gutting the boar, making sure the kid was still near her once in a while. He poked her back once and withdrew quicker than she could blink, and then gave her a few coins. She blinked, confused. “‘M not sorry for stealing your money. I was hungry.” He mumbled as he defiantly looked away from her. She felt herself go soft, and had to stop herself from squishing him like she had with Hanabi when they were younger. Hinata made him pick the coins and took off one of her gloves to use as a makeshift coin pouch. She pulled him so he sat down next to her and cut a small portion of the boar for herself. She raised an eyebrow when he reached for her portion, moving it so he couldn't touch it. 

 

His eyes fell when she stretched the piece out of his reach, before she pointed to the boar. His eyes followed and his stomach grumbled before he almost did a double take. "T-That's mine?" He asked, incredulous. Didn't he just steal from this lady? He's supposed to be eating the small piece! "This is mine, now eat." She ordered him, channeling her Inner Hanabi, before she slowly nipped on her food. What was she supposed to do now? She's not supposed to get attached. This little boy would become an S-rank criminal and assist in killing Kurenai-sensei's boyfriend. They ate silently as they both thought about what was happening. 

 

That was until Hinata shot up and gathered her stolen weapons, tossing one kunai to the boy, before turning to leave. She can't bring him with her. He can't go with her. Kakuzu stood up to catch the kunai before following the nee-san that had been kind to him. She even gave him clothes and food! She has to bring him with her. He reached out a hand to hold onto the see through thing she had over her shoulders before it stung. He recoiled and saw that the back of his hand was now a bright red, nee-san's eyes widening before she cradled his hand and something cool and comforting surged through his hand. He felt his chest go impossibly tight, before he pulled away from her. It was his fault for trying to touch her without permission but she still made him feel better after striking him? He sighed as he relaxed into their close proximity, slowly wrapping his hand around the hand on his palm. He looked at her, pale eyes conflicted and confused, before smiling a small smile and squeezing his hand. His heart was soaring. 

"Alright, alright. What's your name?" She asked, although she already knew. Might as well ask now or else she'll slip later. His eyes widened and he peered blankly into her. He remained quiet before mumbling under his breath. "You don't have a name?" She asked, eyebrows crunching up. "If you consider 'thief' and 'bastard' names, then I have two." He said, acting nonchalant. She laughed out loud, which was not as loud as people thought. She expected him to do something killer-like the whole time, not him acting like a child with a Sister complex, nor him being shy because he didn't have a name. She didn't realize earlier that this was a child, not yet a killer. She was not as sharp like Shikamaru nor was she an intellectual like Sakura, she'd admit that, but she never thought she'd be this-- this ignorant. Of course, Kakuzu had a life before Akatsuki.

Everyone in that organization did. 

It was just a matter of unfortunate circumstances. She's not been following her plans lately huh? She spent a bit too much time. She stopped laughing and wiped a tear off of the corner of her eye and looked at Kakuzu. "Kakuzu. I'll call you Kakuzu, if that's alright." He was gaping at her and she laughed again. Goodness, she's enjoying this way too much, wasn't she? He nodded excitedly and blushed deep red. He stared at their laced fingers and even Hinata wondered when that happened. She giggled when he moved to retract his hand but beamed when Hinata tightened her grip. 'I'm sorry Hanabi-chan, but you won't mind if we have another sibling, right?' She thought as they started their trek. They must have looked extremely strange, a girl wearing a dirtied black dress with a clothe around her eyes and a child drowning in his own clothes. 

But it didn't matter now. She had a new life to live, a new sibling to protect and a whole history to change.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd appreciate comments! but if you're only going to hate on the story and not give constructive criticism, i'll get sad. and i'm already a sad boy. please dont hate. :'(

Kid Kakuzu was surprisingly very sweet and it contrasted so much with his older self that there were multiple times she forgot to breathe in the past days. She still couldn't adjust to her current predicament, and the added responsibility for the little child was also pressuring her. She sighed as she pulled the scratchy, cheap kimono she bought when they passed a town. One of the ladies took pity on them, (who wouldn't?) and sold the kimono for a fourth of the price, gave Kakuzu free clothes and even let them stay the night in exchange for manual labor the next day. Right now, her meager belongings were her black dress, the kimono she was wearing, and a pair of shirts and pants. Kakuzu was faring much better since they used half of his stolen money to buy the things he badly needed, which were salves and clothes.

Kakuzu went along her 'blind' act, and always took the chance to 'help' her through the towns, (she knew he just wanted to hold hands, but it was cute so she didn't say anything) and that helped them immensely. Turns out, they took pity on civilians, but not on shinobi who were needing medical attention. That or they just knew they couldn't help either way. She took it upon herself to secretly heal what she could, (she only had second hand knowledge, only a few advanced techniques since she only learned from tagging along Sakura and Ino, because she focused on salves and herbal remedies) and sent them away before anyone other than Kakuzu saw them. 

They had encountered a few hostile people, and although they were bandit level, Hinata could't risk fighting like how she used to, so she settled for using her kunai and fire jutsu. She didn't need to broadcast her knowledge of Jyuuken. Her ward always looked like he wanted to learn what she was doing and she promptly gave in, teaching him the basics of  the Academy katas. Turns out, he didn't need conditioning since his stamina was already A-grade, pain tolerance was off the roof, and his stealth was what you could expect from a former thief. His hands were light and swift, making her think if he would do well with her family's way of fighting. He took to the Academy taijutsu style like a fish to water, and in just under a week, they were already working on the Academy three. Today, she was teaching him how to do the kawarimi. Unsurprisingly, Kakuzu mastered the clone technique with minimal difficulty.

"In order to execute the kawarimi, the seals are ram, boar, ox, dog and then snake. You remember the 12 hand seals?" She asked, and when he nodded, told him to show her all of them. His seals were still slow and wobbly, even crooked in some places, but she told him to take it easy and practice with her if he needs pointers. "Practice the sequence first, and when it looks good to me and you don't forget the right pattern, then I'll allow you to use it on training." She said while they walk, rather, she walked, what with the little boy who was piggy-backing in order to concentrate on his seals. They had started to do this in order for Hinata to go full speed in their travels, train her body and eyes and simultaneously gave Kakuzu the chance to rest and practice his seals. She also chose to abandon her shoes, opting to train herself by becoming sensitive to the tremor of the earth by using the chakra points in her feet to sense nearby people and to also rest her eyes. Technically, it was a bastardized version of the Sage Mode, since she used natural energy to sense people.  Kiba used this method on training to make his nose even more useful, and the last she saw of him, he and Akamaru could fight completely blind to the world.

"I can't do boar." She heard him grumble as he tried to twist his wrists downward. "It doesn't have to be perfectly pointed downward, Kakuzu." He huffed behind her and she smiled. "Of course I could do it, I'm naturally flexible." She put him down and then thought for a minute. "Look, if you really can't do it, do it upward." He looked at her, confused. She did the boar seal, then turned it upward. "It's probably easier since it's similar to praying, so try it." She sat down on a root of a tree, letting Kakuzu's mind run wild. It happened often, where he'd need to stop and think. "Or--" She started and he looked at her again, "-You could invent a whole different set of seals if you try hard enough, you're smart anyway." She said and leaned on the tree's trunk, knowing they'd probably stop for food a little later.

"Or, I could make a whole other seal for boar. Making 11 other seals would confuse me." He said and she mumbled 'that too, i suppose' under her breath as she closed her eyes to rest. Her mind wandered to her now non-existent plan, and how she's supposed to make sure the Konoha she grew up in would still be there in the far future. She'd cry if the time comes and she sees that somewhere down the line, Hanabi doesn't come to life. Even her late cousin, Neji. Neji. Neji... The Caged Bird Seal! She needs to do something about the seal, or the next Hinata would suffer under the misguided wrath of Neji. She sighed and opened her eyes, bolting upright when Kakuzu's outline was nowhere to be seen. Immediately, her byakugan was activated. He was a few kilometers away from her. How could she let her guard down? She ripped a slit into the side of her kimono and took off, pumping as much chakra as was physically safe into her foot's tenketsu and shot to the north.

Hands warmed up to the familiar fire of her Gentle Step, and the second she caught up to the men who held Kakuzu, she descended like a vengeful god.

Lightning chakra mixed with the heat and an arm went through a body like a hot knife and butter, Hinata's ward choosing to follow her when she bellowed for him to close his eyes. She turned around and punched through a stomach, pushing as much chakra as she can when her other hand hit a chest. She dropped into a crouch as a tanto swiped where her neck was and swiped her foot in an arc to buy her time to adjust her torso, pushed off the ground with a swift burst of chakra using the tenketsu on her back, cocked her arm back and dug her fist into the man's liver. A hand pulled her hair and swiped a knife near her cheek but she twisted her body to connect her elbow into some's ribs, and when it did, released chakra enough to burn one's coils and quickly grabbed Kakuzu who was shaking like a leaf on the ground. She ran as fast as she could, burning the coils on the soles of her feet as she pushed more and more chakra. 

They finally stopped when they reached the side of a mountain, and Kakuzu was no longer shaking. "You're safe, Kakuzu... I'm here now, they won't hurt you as long as I'm here." She cooed into his ear as he clutched the front of her kimono. She held him the whole time, food no longer in her mind. Her heart raced as she pressed Kakuzu closer to her and let him dig his face into the side of her neck. She almost choked when she felt tears roll down her neck to her shoulder. She didn't let him go nor did she let her hug go slack, when he slowly stopped crying. "I'm here." She whispered and felt her chest tighten when she heard the familiar whimper of 'nee-chan'.  "N-nee-chan's here, Kakuzu. I'm here." She said over and over, until Kakuzu wriggled in her arms and held her face with both of his hands. He gave her a small, shy kiss on the tip of her nose and then promptly blushed beet red when she beamed at him and returned the kiss with one of her own. Green eyes sparkled as she ran her chakra through his small body and found no internal wounds. "Y-you were very cool." He said, shyly fiddling with her bloodied fingers. "You looked?" She asked, frowning. "You were s-scary at first, but now that I think about it, you're a girl and you beat six men." She frowned even more. "Six? You mean five?" He shook his head and said there were really six. "Kuzu, I only took down five men." 

"And the sixth will take you down." A voice said as a blade pressed into her nape. Kakuzu stilled in her arms and she slowly pushed him off of her lap. She mouthed 'go' and Kakuzu stood up, and ran as fast as he can, following the range of the mountain. She didn't sense him anywhere, and what's more surprising was the fact that he managed to sneak up on her. This man may be the one who took Kakuzu. She didn't dare activate her byakugan in fear of him noticing her chakra spike. Sweat beaded on her forehead, as she tried to gauge how far Kakuzu had ran. "Why did you take him?" She asked, steeling her nerves once the pressure on her nape stayed the same. 'She could do this, she just needed an opening.' She thought to herself. 'Just one gap in his attention.' He, based from the voice, ran his hand along her hair, pulling it harshly and bringing it to his nose where he loudly sniffed on it. "He had something we wanted." She tensed when thoughts of 'pedophilia' and 'rape' entered her mind, her worry for Kakuzu growing even bigger. "What did you want him for?" She asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.

"Oh, we didn't want him. We wanted you." His voice fell an octave in what he seem to think was a more sultry approach. She relaxed when she heard that she misunderstood, but it seemed it was his turn to misunderstand. He took her sudden relaxing as a sign that she gave herself up. "You must have done this plenty of times, huh? No way a blind little girly like you works for some clan. Or maybe you do? Their little bed warmer?" He cackled into her ear while she grit her teeth. She forgot the rampant sexism before Konoha. Her back straightened when he ran his other hand on her lower back, slowly inching toward the slit on her kimono. "At the very least, I could enjoy you, since you killed them. I'd have to punish you, sightless." He ran his tongue on the shell of her ear and she had had enough. She prayed to whoever was up there that what she was about to do would work. Her hands were still on her lap and she took the chance. 

She could only hope she reverse-summoned herself to somewhere she could negotiate.

\---

 

She bolted upright when she felt something slither on top of her neck, and was met with what looked like a snake's throat. She froze and stopped breathing. This place was not somewhere she could negotiate. The Snakes were always closely likened to the Snake Sannin, and after he was pardoned, no one ever saw the summon contracts as desirable. The snake's mouth snapped close and she flinched, but forced herself to stare the snake right in the eyes. She heard an odd hissing/hiccuping sound but didn't dare turn around. "Oho, I like this one. I smell blood on her though." Someone hissed right next to her ear and she felt a shiver run down her spine. "I need your help." She said, steeling her guts and went straight to the point. She felt something slither over her feet but didn't dare move. "And what do we get in return?" Another one hissed and she had to calm herself. "My loyalty." She said, and involuntarily closed her eyes when something akin to a human hand ghosted over her neck. Then it tightened and she knew it really was a human hand. She felt light-headed, and she wanted to move and go back to Kakuzu, but she knew she'd need someone's help somewhere in the future. Her chest was tightening and she was on the verge of fainting, when the pressure disappeared, yet she didn't dare gasp for air. Breathing silently through her nose, she calmed her racing heart and ignored her burning lungs.

 "You have passed our test, young one." A test? She still didn't turn her head. "We want a summoner that will trust us. You passed when you let one of  us to almost end your life."  A red anaconda thicker than five Akimichi and what looked like height higher than the T&I building, slithered to where she sat, calming herself. "Now, what did you want our help for? We can talk about the conditions later." As fast as she could she told them what happened, gave a snake time to memorize Kakuzu's scent and went back to their realm. She could only hope Kakuzu was alright. When they landed back on the site where she reverse-summoned herself, her byakugan immediately activated, searching for Kakuzu. She couldn't see him. 'What if that man got him?!' A voice that sounded suspiciously close to Ino's shrill voice screamed at the back of her mind, and she ground her teeth, pushing as much chakra as she could to the coils on her eyes, in an attempt to see further. A green and black snake slithered next to her and nudged her using his face. "Towards that way." She pointed and got on top of the snake, and boy was she surprised when he shot off like a lightning bolt, the trees blurring around her. "We'll catch up to them, don't worry. You smell like flame embers when you worry, and lavender smells better." The currently unknown snake told her and she calmed herself down. 'That man better not have done anything to her ward.' She thought when she caught sight of a chakra ripple out of nowhere. 

That or she'd have to slaughter that man's entire clan.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata stumbles into a slavery ring. Among Hinata and the two kids, there is one brain cell. Kakuzu owns it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> small warning, a lot of crackish dialogue at the end.

The unnamed snake slithered through the forest with unbelievable speed, and Hinata was sure she almost got whiplash when he swerved to the right to evade a particular badly placed branch and had to tighten her hold on him before he did the zoom thing once again. "Where are they?" He hissed before she pushed more chakra into the coils behind her eyes. It burned and she felt a few drops liquid roll down her cheeks, before she caught the slight disturbance in the air once again.

"There!" She didn't register when she had activated her Gentle Step, nor did she notice when she got off the snake and how easily her arm went through a log.  She had hyper-focused on getting Kakuzu back that she didn't particularly care whether she got the right people.

A blur of black hair dashed away and her mind supplied her with 'Kakuzu', even though she wasn't that sure it really was him due to the literal heat of a fireball that would've scorched her hair had she not been tackled by the snake.  A foreign chakra tried to enter her brain but immediately died down when she made it clear that genjutsu didn't work on her. Assessing her current situation, she realized she had walked in on a completely wrong group of people. The slither of smooth scales behind her knees ground her back to the earth and she already knew she couldn't escape this fight she unintentionally barged into. 

"I am not the best in close quarter combat against people with weapons, but I can provide support." He hissed, but it didn't seem like the men now surrounding her understood what her summon said. She gave him a nod before she struck the first man that attacked her. Turning the heat of her Gentle Step down to conserve chakra, she resorted to using Jyuuken and though she didn't like killing people that had done her no wrong, she doubted they don't have anything against her now since she literally attacked them for no reason, 'mistake' on her part or not.

A lucky jab hit her shoulder and she realized it cleanly dug into it. Then she felt something  pass her head, a rusty kunai, and dig deeply into the man's arm.

He clutched his arm and promptly lost his balance, giving Hinata a few seconds to knock him out. Quick as she could, she struck the back of his neck and moved to another man. He charged at her with a bolo in one hand, other hand waving in the air recklessly. 'He must have thought lesser of me because he thinks I'm blind.' Hinata thought as she dodged him simply by side-stepping, before ramming her knee on his lower back. A resounding 'crack' rang loud on Hinata's ears and she left him on the ground as he gasped in pain.

"Nee-san!" A shout caught her attention and a black blur zoomed past her summon, who, despite saying he'd play support, took down two men on his own. Another black blur zoomed past her summon and latched onto Kakuzu, who did the same to her. "Scary!" He, the unknown child, said and pointed at her summon, whose eyes seemingly narrowed in disgust(?) and gave her a dead stare. He hissed and went back, leaving Hinata with two children.

She didn't even have the chance to thank him. She wrapped her arms around Kakuzu, gently pulling the other child into their improptu hugging session.

"Who's your friend?" She asked, running her chakra over Kakuzu, who was her priority. The child had new bruises on her arm, the old ones yet to fade. She cringed when he cried out in pain and fell to the ground in a crying heap when she prodded a rib a bit too hard for his liking. Slipping into what she remembered Ino calling the 'Nurse Hinata' mode, she hushed him, gently running calming chakra through his tenketsu in the chest. His heartbeat slowed down and she praised him, quickly mending his broken ribs as much as she could by encouraging the bone cells to reattach thenselves without exhausting Kakuzu's own chakra.

If she had been Sakura, she'd have fixed this in 10 minutes with a few more to spare for the other child. But she was Hinata, and she could only do her best and finished mending Kakuzu's bones about 2/3 of the way to make it heal naturally and grow stronger in about 25 to 30 minutes, with calming chakra continuosly pumping into Kakuzu's frazzled and confused nerves. He fell into a sleepy heap and she caught him by the armpits (he was gaining weight, and it made her really happy.) before adjusting him so he was lying a bit more comfortably on her lap.

"I'm Tobi!" The child introduced when it became clear that Kakuzu couldn't answer for him. Hinata almost choked on her own saliva, before regaining her posture, giving the child a lame "A-ah, nice to meet you, Tobi-kun." reply. They fell into an awkward silence, the crickets and cicadas making background noise in symphony before the child poked her chest. She squealed in shock before guarding her chest with the arm that was not cradling Kakuzu. "You have a big chest." He said simply, like it was normal to poke a woman's bossom and casually call it big. Hinata blushed beet red. 

"I-it's not like I w-wanted it!" She retorted lamely, wondering who his parents were. He gave her a confused smile before muttering a "You can't choose your chest size?" that sounded like a mixture of discovery, wonder and fact. She didn't know. Perhaps the tone had that unsaid 'duh' at the end, but maybe she spent far too much time with the females of Konoha 12. Or Sai. 

"A-anyway, Tobi-kun, where do y-you live? We can drop you near there." She said, praying to whoever was up there that she doesn't get involved with any of the Warring Clans. The only clans that were not involved with the fighting (the ones she remembered from her Academy days anyways) were the small ones, like the Kagen, Shinsou and a few bigger clans like the Aburame who were naturally inclined towards Peace, and for the most part, the Inuzuka, who only fought if the moutain they had occupied was trespassed. The Hyuuga were not as involved in the war like the Senju and Uchiha, but were still considered a clan that actively participated in the Warring Era. 

"We can't go home yet!" She was too tired and busy nursing her temple due to her incoming headache to correct Tobi about his use of 'we' like they were supposed to come with him. They were not part of whichever clan he was born in. "And why is that, Tobi-kun?" She asked tiredly, the adrenaline finally leaving her body.

 "They have my friends too!" He said like he was discussing the weather that she almost didn't comprehend what he said. She was really, really tired. She bit into her thumb and with the last of her strength, reverse-summoned the three of them. 

°°°°°

She woke up to the warmth of a small body trying to wiggle itself under her arm. Tiredly, she lifted it up high enough that they could cuddle up to her side and be comfortable before she slowly tried to open her eyes. She couldn't. A cold hand pushed her down when she made a move to sit upright and she found that she had no energy to struggle. A nure-ona? The little body that was cuddling her side held on tighter. 

"Rest, you have been poisoned by snake venom. You are lucky that you are contracted to us and had enough chakra left to get here." She gave a tired hum in response, before she slipped into a deep sleep. 

°°°°°

_"Hinata! Hit harder! At this rate, you will make it known that the Main House heiress is a disgrace! Again!"_

_"You want to protect Hanabi? You're too weak to do that, child."_

_"You have failed me by losing to your cousin. I am disappointed in you."_

_No, she was trying._

_"Is that your very best? Your team must be burdened with you."_

_"She's a spoiled princess! She can't even hit her own little sister!"_

_No, no, no._

_"Ya know, Hinata, I think I had it with your stuttering."_

_Kiba, how could you?_

_"You are weak. Why? Because you gave up before the fight even started."_

_Shino, you too?_

_"I went to the Moon to save you, and you disappear on us? You're selfish."_

_No, Naruto, I didn't mean to._

_"You didn't save me. You left me."_

_Hanabi..._

_"_ I didn't mean to." She gasped as small fingers wiped her tears away. Kakuzu sat on her side, tears sliding down his cheeks. "Don't cry, nee-chan. Don't cry. If you cry, it'll hurt more." He sobbed as he wiped Hinata's tears away with shaky hands. "Sorry, Kakuzu. I'm so sorry." She pulled him closer and she hugged him tight. "I had a bad dream, but I'm okay now. See?" She whispered and gave a low laugh, "--it just scared me a little. Sorry." Kakuzu remained silent, before raising his head so fast his hair bounced. She smiled.

"You can't cry when I'm not with you, I'll scare the bad dreams away!" He exclaimed, pouting, before settling next to her once again. "Don't think I didn't see you, Tobi-kun." She said, shifting on her back so there was a little more space Tobi could squeeze into. He grinned, wriggling on the futon so he ended up on Hinata's other side. "I like cuddles." He said to no one in particular, before he poked her chest again. She gave him a warning glance before he beamed at her. 

"Aniki said if I do this," he frowned and barred his teeth in her direction, let out a sound that he must thought was intimidating, then continued, "--the bad guys would go away! It didn't work with the bad guys earlier, but maybe it'll work with your bad dreams!" He said, happily soaking in Hinata's attention. 

"Okay." She simply said. 

"Thank you." 

°°°°°

The moment Hinata deemed she was back to top condition, she told Tobi to tell her everything about his friends they had left behind. He burst into word vomit, saying something about a 'friend with white eyes' and one with 'a little puppy dog'. Her blood ran cold. What if they were kidnapping random children and women? And did disgusting things to them?

A woman's head popped out of the makeshift door the snakes had made for them. A nure-ona, she almost cringed. This one was half human, half snake though, not just a head. "I believe they took one of us. Issei is missing." She said, hissing out the word 'missing'. Her black hair flowed behind her as she slithered inside the room. Kakuzu didn't seem like he had anything to add or say, so he opted to wrap himself tighter around Hinata. 

"Did they take you too?" Kakuzu asked, a bit too comfortable as his head laid on Hinata's chest. His eyes slowly fluttered close and opened after a few seconds, when he caught himself almost slipping into an unconscious state. Tobi snorted and laid his feet on top of Hinata's lap, wriggling his toes. 

"Un! Said they found Aniki." He said as the nure-ona's brows furrowed. "Who is your Aniki?" She and Hinata asked at the same time. "I think his name is Izumo. I think." Kakuzu snorted, startling Hinata. "You don't know your own brother's name?" Tobi pouted, arm cocked back as if to punch Kakuzu. Hinata held his arm gently, slowly lowering it. "I always call him Aniki. That's his name to me."

"What are you? Five?" 

"Yes. How old are you, anyways?" Tobi didn't seem five. He's a lot bigger than the civvies they had encountered. "I'm 8." Now that was a discovery. Kakuzu was tall for an eight year old. He was already at chest-height for Hinata. At this rate, when he reaches his older form, he'd probably be taller. She huffed quietly. Alright, maybe she isn't the tallest person but perhaps she'd be happier if kids not even 10 years of age aren't as tall as her. 

"Back to the dilemma at hand." Hinata said, eyes sliding over to the nure-ona who gave her a quiet nod. No names, then. "If a summon could get kidnapped, no wonder even clan children get caught too." The nure-ona said, and pursed her lips, letting Hinata glimpse at her fangs. She shivered.

"Y-yes." She dumbly replied, pulling her eyes away from the nure-ona's mouth and focused on the two squabbling boys. 

"You think I don't know what you're doing?!"

"I don't know what you're saying."

"Boys, please be quiet for a few minutes, is that okay?" She asked, trying not to somehow hurt their feelings by telling them to shut their mouths. Tobi made a show of acting like he was sewing his mouth and jabbed Kakuzu in the shoulder, before bounding off to who knows where. He was weird like that. "I wish we could just use him to bait the slavers..." Kakuzu mumbled to himself as he followed Tobi. She and the nure-ona met eyes and she felt her head shake. The nure-ona nodded. She resisted the urge to 'facepalm'.

Why did Kakuzu always think of sensible ideas?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dream would be for someone to slap me on camera so i can say "i cant believe youve done this".
> 
> also, i want to eat waffles but i also dont???


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part uno

"No! Why can't he do it?" Kakuzu harrumphed as he petulantly crossed his arms. An image of older Kakuzu doing that action almost made Hinata laugh if it weren't for the severity of the situation they were in. Hinata bit into her lower lip just so she didn't laugh or make a sound, but that didn't deter a certain dark-haired child from guffawing. They needed to get this over with, fast, since they were literally losing lives by the second.

Slavers were known as inhumane even back in Hinata's time, (now wasn't that weird, back in her time? how was she even supposed to say that in her mind?) and more often than not, even the rescued people are already too broken and scarred that so few ever recover from the experience. Rape, forced to participate in blood sports, human hunting and even outright food, were all possible sentences or future for those who are enslaved.

This was why Hinata fought for the Branch House, even though none of the earlier reasons have befallen them. As soon as you make someone do your bidding where they are helpless or cannot refuse, that was already slavery in her book, heck (she blushed, remembering how Sakura and Naruto froze when they first heard her say it) she even thought what Elder Danzo did to Sai and countless others was slavery!

She knelt in front of a red-faced Kakuzu and pet his hair, just like how Akamaru liked it.

"Kakuzu, we need you to do it. Tobi-kun can't do it because he doesn't know how to protect himself but you already know how to fight. Remember the katas I taught you?" He nodded slowly, whining when Hinata stopped petting his hair.

"Good boy, you remember. That is why we need your help. You can save the people who got abducted!" She said, speaking slowly so Kakuzu could absorb the flattery.

He beamed at her and enthusiastically nodded his agreement with a cry of 'I'm in!' as he bounced in place. Hinata laughed and placed a soft kiss on his forehead, ignoring Tobi's cry of wanting to be the bait. 

"Are we all set?" The nure-ona (who's name she still doesn't know.) called from behind them as she handed Hinata a few odd looking sticks. "Careful, these are coated in our most lethal venom." Hinata didn't use weapons except for when she absolutely needed kunai and maybe at times senbon, but she was absolutely stumped as to where she could possibly use these.

"These are meant to be arrows, but the tips are sharpened, and it makes less noise. I've been told you have a long range of sight, and you could use these to at least thin the slavers from afar." She observed the sticks with curiosity. It was very light, even in a bundle of dozens.

It was longer than senbon but shorter than a tanto. It was slimmer than senbon though, and most likely more dangerous.  Hinata hummed in approval as she inspected one with a cloth around her fingers. It smelled sweet and otherwise unassuming, but she didn't want to accidentally die by sniffing too much of it's scent or accidentally touch it.

She didn't know what it could do. "Thank you." She simply said and wrapped it inside a thick bag, making sure none of them poked out of it. "Kakuzu, let's go." She said, pulling Tobi gently away from Kakuzu.

"Tobi, be good while we're away. When we go back," She gulped as she realized what the word 'when' implicated, but continued speaking anyways, "--it's your job to lift their spirits up, okay? Your job is important too so don't pout." She finished just in time as the sun had a few more hours to set. 

Releasing both herself and Kakuzu, they were transported back to the foot of the mountain where she reverse-summoned the three of them. Quietly, she signed Kakuzu to get on her back as she maneuvered the bag of poisoned sticks around so Kakuzu wouldn't make any contact with it.

Once he was comfortable on her back, she activated her Byakugan and started to search for the odd ripples in the air. "Remember what we practiced, okay? What do you do if one goes for your throat?" She asked using their own, invented hand signs, keeping one arm tucked under his thigh securely.

"Break the little finger, twist their wrist and if possible, break it too." He clumsily signed back, and she nodded. She asked him a few more questions and ran a few more miles before she caught sight of another one of the slavers in action. She let Kakuzu down and nodded to him, pointing to the north, before he nodded back in understanding.

He ran towards the north, and kept close to the trees, not straying too far from the shadows of the branches and leaves. 

Meanwhile, Hinata positioned herself on top of the tallest tree she could find and plucked a pair of her hair from her head, improvised with a twig and tested the springiness of her hair.

She remembered how Kurenai used her own hair as her own makeshift upper and lower string, and used it as her improvised bow when they used up all of their kunai in an earlier mission and encountered a particularly tough missing nin from Konoha that thought they were already hunting him.

Of course she had to fumble a little bit but by the time Kakuzu was almost 20 feet away from the slavers and the struggling woman, Hinata was already aiming her poisoned 'sticks'.

Even without an open wound on her fingers, they began getting numb after she fired the first arrow. She may not be as good as Tenten in the weapon arts, she still had superior eyesight and better chakra control. It was easier for her to just aim and push enough chakra into the arrow for it to fly straight into her target.

And into her target it did.

It dug cleanly into a man's unsuspecting shin and within a few minutes, he was frothing in the mouth. Immediately, Hinata hopped across tree branches and got away before they find out about her. She stayed close to the group of slavers as they knocked the woman out and left their friend, knowing he'd be dead in a few minutes. 

They picked the woman up and bound her feet and arms so tight, she was sure she saw her arms turn a very light blue. Kakuzu was still tailing them where he could be seen if they were looking for him, but not obvious enough that they'd think he was following them. Kakuzu purposely stepped on a twig and made a small 'eep' sound, before acting like he froze up. Hinata readied herself.

This was the start of their plan.

Get Kakuzu to be 'abducted', be taken to where the others were with Hinata tailing the group, who has gotten a few snakes (nondescript ones) to slither around the group, just in case the slavers split, while the others were in stand-by in the Other.

Hinata alone could have tailed at a longer distance, but she needed someone to check up on Kakuzu and maybe slip inside his clothes to better hear what they were talking about.

She couldn't just believe Kakuzu could defend himself with just his bare hands against fully grown men, at this day and age. The Warring Clan Era were a much hated era and Hinata was one of the majority that think everything in this time frame was either stupid, had one brain cell and even it didn't work properly, or either too tame (coming from her, this was an insult of all insults, even she did't like pulling punches) to even stand up for themselves. 

"Ah, ah, ah! What do we have here?" A man said before he lunged for Kakuzu, who was already 'frozen' in place.

A small, unassuming snake was wrapped around one of his thighs and was concealed by his over-sized clothes. Hinata moved even closer,  so much more closer, on the lookout for an unsuspecting ripple in the air. Now that she knew what to look out for, she figured she could multitask with this. Train her eyes and perhaps do something good for this era.

"Please don't hurt me!" Kakuzu pleaded and fell on his behind, taking great care to not accidentally squish the small one under his clothes. The man grabbed him by the arm and pulled him harshly, dragging the poor boy towards his group.

This group had no 'unsearchable' men and even Kakuzu realized this as he complied and continued to get dragged. Hinata applauded his dedication in her mind and gave him a thumbs up when they met eyes accidentally and he gave a shaky smile (grimace?ah, yes, a grimace.).

She saw the little snake slither a little bit tighter around his thighs in a protective gesture, all coiled up to attack in the fastest of moments. 

They moved. 

She shadowed the group for almost half a day, and thanked the gods that she forced the kids to eat a lot before they went with their plan. From her point of view, they've been inching closer to the Land of Lightning, and leaned towards the direction where a few civilian towns surrounded Kumogakure in her time stood.

What could they do in this place?

She realized they were probably not selling or trading the women and kids, but instead, feeding them to the infamous Island Turtle of Kumo. It has been rumoured  back in the days where the Allied Shinobi Nations was not yet formed, that the turtle ate anyone except for kumo-nin that dared train on it's back.

It was like the Forest of Death, but more terrifying. The mere mention of 'turtle' made her cringe and remember one green-clad man with a little mini-me prancing about around the village in their own version of 'training'. She shook her head and mentally slapped herself to focus on the group that stopped directly in front of a vast body of water.

The area had a thick blanket of fog and low clouds scattered about, and the men had a little difficulty treading the place. 

They pulled the unconscious woman and Kakuzu with them as they slowly walked across the water, only to stop right about 50 meters away from shore. Then with a booming voice, one of them said, 

"Come out now. You've been following us for the whole day, and if you're all too willing to be sold, then be our  guest." His cocky demeanor irked Hinata to no end but remained hidden about a few hundred meters away, where she was sure they couldn't see her.

Kakuzu stiffened in the hold of the man who grabbed him and the little snake wrapped around her ward slowly slithered upwards, until Hinata's byakugan could see the outline of her summon wound tightly around the boy's waist. 

"Come out before we hurt them." He, (she opted to just call him 'he') said out loud again before he frowned and pulled a small blade, making a move to cut Kakuzu down. Hinata moved, but a few black blurs zoomed towards the man a little ways in front of Hinata and she managed to keep herself still.

The huge insignia  on the back of their well-crafted armor was enough for Hinata to stay back and not interfere.

Uchiha.

There were Uchiha tailing the same people she was following. Ooh, not a good sign.

Kakuzu was smart enough to break free from the man's hold lest he be impaled with a sword. A few snakes emerged from underneath the water and Kakuzu held on for dear life as they dived down and away from the fight above the water. Hinata cursed ('Frickin' bad timing!') and moved closer to the fight, making sure she was far away that they won't sense her immediately, and that the cloth tied around her eyes were secure as frick. 

Their plan was ruined, she thought as she leapt into the fray when more slavers came from _under the water_ from a swirl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

She activated her byakugan again and saw a small passage underwater that was littered with fuinjutsu she couldn't understand. Either they harassed someone with advanced fuinjutsu skills to do this hideout for them or they were some type of Uzushio-cast away, for the famed Land of Fuinjutsu was known everywhere as peace loving and an advocate for a 'peaceful' world, even back today. 

She screamed 'Duck!' as she spun a full circle and thanked gods that the Uchiha reflexively followed orders. Her Gentle Fist was mixed with lightning and made even more dangerous as performed her own, bastardized version of Raikiri. It was plagiarism at this point, but Kakashi wasn't even born yet, so she figured she could borrow a few stuff from his arsenal.

Besides, he had 999 more jutsu up his literal sleeve. Lightning shot out and cut bodies like butter, and after she felt secure enough to make her own escape, she cut the chakra off of her feet and dove down, grabbing hold of a scaly tail that swam the frick away from there. 

She felt an arm grab hold of her hair, and she bit back the urge to scream.

She was underwater afterall.

She turned and a snake bit into the arm, and she made sure it hurt more by scratching his arm and making sure water seeped into it.

The snake swam straight to the passage and backed off, letting Hinata cock her arm back, before she punched a hole through the rock, then quickly slipped in. She plugged it with a whole boulder (that used almost all of her strength just to lift underwater, by the way) and quickly got to work.

She knew snakes were already making themselves comfortable outside of the passage, just above the boulder, just to make sure she wasn't interrupted. She had no time to wring her hair dry before a punch landed on her gut.

A man held a pair of kunai in both hands, and she could already see signs of fear. Sweaty hands, trembling knees, and a pinched face. She looked like that once upon a time too. What she saw behind the man made her want to puke, and made her sight bleed red.

So she made him bleed. 

 

 


End file.
